Ben 10 vs the Crystal Gems
by isoner
Summary: The Tennysons, on their summer break world tour, come across a Gem colony. The Plumber files on the alien race of Gems is very specific: Their presence can only mean invasion! Can Ben 10 hero up to save Earth from an alien invasion, or is it the type of misunderstanding that heroes frequently have when meeting each other for the first time.
1. Chapter 1

Ben focused on his new Sumo cards… he needed to assemble the ultimate deck so that when he finally talked Gwen into playing, he could devastate her at the game. He was lounging in one of the couches inside the Rustbucket, aka grandpa Max's Camper.

Grandpa Max, at the steering wheel, suddenly slammed on the breaks. The sudden stop threw Ben to the floor, his Sumo Slammer cards flying all over the place, and he just knew he would never find them all. Ben expected Gwen to laugh at his misfortune, but she was currently sitting under the dining table and her homework was now upside down in the chair opposite her.

Just as suddenly as he had stopped, Max put the RV in reverse, swinging it into a parking space.

Max stood up and made his way to the back of the camper. "Ben, you know better than to make a mess like this."

"But it wasn't my fault!" Ben protested, "this time."

Gwen managed to climb back into her seat, and looked out the window. "A car wash? Are we finally going to get this thing cleaned so it will be slightly less embarrassing to ride around in the Rustbucket?"

Max didn't seem to even hear me.

"It's not the dirt that's the embarrassment, its having to travel with you!" Ben said.

The two children turned to watch their grandpa max as he opened a secret panel and opened a safe that neither of the kids had seen before.

"What's in there? Plumber stuff?" Gwen asked.

"Huh? No, just some items that are valuable to me personally, that I didn't want Ben to accidently destroy."

"HEY!" Ben protested.

"Wait, are those… Records?"

"Yep, but only my absolute favorites. I have the 8-tracks of most of these albums too. I'm going out."

Gwen's face fell when he walked past the car wash to stare at some old van parked off to the side. "So much for getting it washed."

"Yeah, like your face!"

"That doesn't even make sense, Ben."

-0-

Max walked with an uncharacteristic spring in his step as he approached the white van. Once he got close enough, he walked around his invisible perimeter, looking for just the right angle. He held up the record jacket to compare.

The record jacket was solid white, but in the center was the very same van he was looking at now, complete with Mr. Universe written on the side. "I can't believe it! This is really it!"

The jacket went to Mr. Universe's first, self titled album. He had purchased it when it came out, and loved it. He had purchased every album the man had put out, but for some reason he hadn't released anything new in more than a decade. In many ways it was like Mr. Universe had simply dropped off the face of the Earth.

"Hey, are you here for a wash? We have 20% off waxing today," said a man who was bald on top, but the rest of his hair went all the way down to his bottom, and his tan lines didn't match the shirt he was wearing. Still, now that he had identified the van, Max could easily recognize the car wash attendant.

Max thrust the record jacket out at the attendant. "Can I get your autograph? Please?"

Gwen and Ben stepped out of the RV, their eyes were fixed on Max.

"I cant believe it," Ben said, "Grandpa is totally flipping out over that guy."

"Yeah." Gwen looked over at the van. "Who is Mr. Universe anyway?"

"Beats me."

"Hi, Connie. Sword practice again today?" Mr. Universe said to a dark skinned girl who was crossing the street while carrying a broadsword every bit as large as she was.

"Yes, Sir," she said.

"Don't poke your eye out," Mr. Universe said.

"That is some hefty weapons training," Max said, "So, why did you get out of the music business, Mr. Universe?"

"Call me Greg, please. And I never got out of the music business. I've been working on my next album… for the last… I don't know… close to 15 years now. I've got 98 songs for it so far… I guess I really should try to whittle them down."

"Do you think I could hear any of them?"

"Sure, anything for a fan."

"We're going to the beach," Ben said.

"Okay," Max said, "have fun, you two."

"And be careful," Greg said, "It's not always safe on the beach." He opened the back of his van and started pulling out his cd player and a bit stack full of cds.

"You really have that many songs? You could release several albums at once."'

"They're not all good… but I guess my music career did get sidelined after I fell in love. That's when everything changed."

"Believe me, I know the feeling."

"Now, I'm a single parent, trying to raise my son, with the help of his mom's friends."

"What happened to his mother?"

"She's not with us anymore… "

"I'm sorry about that. As for me, I'm taking two of my grandchildren on a road trip around the country. So far, our trip has proven to be more eventful than I had counted on."

"Isn't that how it goes with kids these days?"

Max chuckled, "I suppose it is."

"Listen to this one…. I call it Lapis Lazuli"

They listened to that song, then a few others.

"Some of these are duets. Who is the woman?"

"That was Rose."

"She was…? I'm sorry. I keep putting my foot in it."

"No, it's fine. Those were good times."

"Grandpa Max, Grandpa Max," Ben and Gwen shouted as they ran back from the beach.

"Looks like I'm needed," Max said, "I hope we can talk again before we leave town."

"Yeah, sure. Its nice talking to someone who appreciates my art."

Max met Ben and Gwen about half way. "Okay, kids, what is it?"

"Down on the beach," Ben said, "there is something you've got to see."

"It's alien tech, I'm sure of it," Gwen added.

"Let's go see."

Grandpa Max followed his two grandchildren down to a secluded beach. Max had almost given up on ever seeing a beach again that was not flooded with high-rise apartments. It looked like there could be some sort of temple down near the point, but Ben and Gwen led him in the other direction.

The beach had some odd topographical features that he would have loved to study if he had more time.

The kids had found an outcropping of rock that kept part of it hidden from the rest of the beach. Behind the rock was a washed up pile of strange metal objects.

"And look at this thing." Ben held up what looked like a knife handle with two metal rods jutting out, almost in the shape of a blade.

Max picked up a piece of metal and stuffed it in his pocket. "We can analyze this in the Rustbucket, that should tell us where it came from."

They walked back along the beach to where they came on to it. They noticed a house that had been built halfway up the side of a cliff, and two people were standing by the waters edge.

One of the two people was unusually tall with a square looking hairstyle, while the other one looked short and pudgy with really long hair.

"Let's see if they know anything about that junk," Gwen said.

Max thought for a moment. "Good idea, but be discrete. We don't want them to think we are too crazy."

"Wait…" the big one said, then "Now!"

The shorter one then lashed out at the waves with a whip, but when she snapped it back, a fish was entwined on the end. "Now, that's what I'm talking about! Do you want any?"

"No thank you."

"In that case, I won't bother cooking it." She tossed it up, and the entire thing disappeared in her mouth.

As Max and the other got closer, they started noticing more details, like the sunglasses the tall one wore, and her unusually red skin. The other girl seemed to be purple? It wasn't until he saw the glint off of the purple one's chest that he grabbed Ben and Gwen with a vice like grip. "We need to get out of here."

"But they might know—"

"Later," Max silenced the two kids with an unusual harshness to his voice. Truth be told, he didn't remember the last time he had felt so scared.


	2. Chapter 2

In the Rustbucket, Grandpa Max turned on a holographic display.

"When did we get that?" Gwen asked.

"Can I hook my game up to it?" Ben asked.

"No, Ben. This is not a toy. This is about the Gems… Gems control a vast empire of planets they have conquered. They have a strict cast system apparently based on gem type.

"So they're racist," Gwen said.

"You could say that." The hologram displayed what appeared to be a red colored little girl wearing a combat jumpsuit with a red gem embedded in it's chest. "The lowest level soldiers are Rubies, they are red and numerous, but not too smart. Their higher level warriors are in the Quartz family, and are powerful fighters." The image switched to show a large golden woman with a gem on her shoulder, wearing a battle helmet and holding a massive sword.

"Big deal, I've taken down powerful fighters before," Ben said.

"You've taken on thieves and brawlers, Ben, the Quartz are trained soldiers. The Gem hierarchy also has a servant class who of pearls; they are attractive servants, but are strictly non-combatant." The hologram changed again, this time showing a thin woman who reminded Ben and Gwen both of Princess Leia in her metal bikini.

"So these Pearls are what?" Gwen asked, "Slaves?"

"To put it politely, yes," Max said. "Ruling over the entire empire are the Diamonds. There may be other Gems, but those are the only ones listed in the Plumber files. Meaning those are the only types of Gems that non-Gem life forms are likely to encounter." The holographic image displayed a representation of each type of Gem as Max went over them. "They are also not big on individuality or creative naming. It is virtually unheard of for a Gem to have an individual names."

"Basically, we just have to smash a bunch of little red guys and then some big guy… it will be like the boss level of a game. Easy."

"You need to take this seriously, Ben. We'll be really outnumbered."

"What do you mean we? This hero is a solo act!"

"You really pay that little attention to your own life?" Gwen said.

"I'll be there too," Max held up a strange looking rifle. "Sonic drill; guaranteed to shatter any gems we come across."

-o-

"Garnet? What 'cha doing? I wanted to catch more fish," Amethyst had returned to the house to find Garnet bent over the transport pad. "It's way easier with you spotting for me."

"And here I thought we were training to improve our timing."

"Whatever. What are you doing there? Do we have another mission?"

"I'm just pre-programming it in case we get some visitors."

"So, something IS going to happen?"

Garnet shrugged her shoulders.

-o-

"Wow, I know I said you needed to be careful on the beach, but that looks like overkill!" Greg exclaimed as Max Tennyson, wearing a helmet, arm and leg pads, his rifle and a holster, followed his grand kids to back to the beach. "What's with the artillery?"

"You can never be too safe, Greg," Max stopped by the man with the bad suntan lines standing by his distinctive van. "Actually, the rifle is just in case we run across anything dangerous… like a shark."

"I've never seen any sharks around here," Greg said. "The occasional monster, but no sharks."

"Wait, wha? Monster?" Max stuttered, then remembered something that had been nagging at him. "Listen, Greg, I got to thinking about that Lapis song you played me. You made her sound like a sympathetic villain. Is she suppose to be some sort of supernatural entity?"

"Supernatural? Nah, she's nothing like that. But believe me, the first draft of that song was anything but sympathetic. I mean, she broke my leg, after all. But, my son got to be her friend. Now, I just feel sorry for her.

"When I cam here, I fell in love with Rose. I gave up my music career and everything I had to stay here with her. Even Rose and the others are stuck here; they can never return home, but that was their own choice. Lapis… she never got a choice. She didn't chose to live here, or to abandon her friends and home… that was all forced on her by circumstances she couldn't control. I really can't blame her for lashing out and trying to get back. In her heart she's a really good kid… just like my Steven."

"Rose must mean everything to you."

"She sure did."

"I remember what that's like."

"At least I have my Steven, and it's not been easy to keep him safe."

"Tell me about it, let me introduce my grandkids, Ben and Gwen."

"Grandpa…" Ben whined.

"I guess we need to go," Max said. "Listen, I'm sorry if my questions are too personal, or if I'm bothering you."

"Nah… I'm just enjoying being able to talk about the past without having to work a song into it. Anyway, try not to break anything, and be sure to check out Super Fun Land… Mr. Smiley gives me a discount for recommending people."

Max trotted after Ben and Gwen who already had a good head start on him.

Gwen and Ben stopped short before reaching the beach. The beach access was blocked by the two Gems they had seen before. A tall red one with square hair, and a shorter dumpy purple one with long white hair a purple gem in the center of her chest.

"Get behind me, kids," Max said, stepping forward. He tried to think what to say. The Plumbers were now all but disbanded… although if alien activity continued to increase, he would have to see about reactivating the Earth chapter of the organization. No reinforcements would be coming from there. His best hope was that they could raise enough of a fuss to attract the attention of the MIB. He didn't approve of all of their methods, but they could field a force large enough to protect the Earth from a small Gem invasion force. He no longer had the authority to call in UNIT, although he was thinking that he should have tried to call them in anyway. Too late to back off now, he supposed. No way Ben would back down without a fight. "In accordance with the Shadow Proclamation article 9, section 7, I hereby inform you that Earth is a closed world: Off limits to advanced alien civilizations. Please, peacefully leave this planet."

"Grandpa Max, they're women… I can't fight girls, can I?" Ben whispered.

"Ben, Gems have no gender, they just appear female, and I don't know why," Max whispered back.

"Leave?! This is our planet!" the purple Amethyst shouted.

"We can't do that," the red Garnet said calmly.

"He asked you nicely, now we get to do this the hard way." Ben adjusted the Omnitrix on his wrist and selected an alien. He slammed his hand down shouting "Diamond Head!" But instead of morphing into the green crystalline alien, he instead took on the form of Four Arms. "Ah, man… this isn't who I wanted!"

"Something is wrong here," Max said to himself, "are these both Quartzes? Where are the Rubies?"

Gwen assumed a ready stance, Max wasn't sure if she was getting ready to throw a magic bolt, or run for cover, but the girl wound up doing neither. She shouted out as a purple jeweled whip wrapped around her, and then yanked her high up and away.

"GWEN!" Max shouted!

Still yelling, Gwen landed with a splash into the sea behind them.

Max fired his sonic drill, but Garnet had already pushed Amethyst out of the way and met Ben's charge head first.

He wanted to fire off another shot; he wanted to rush in to check on Gwen, but he could do neither because Ben and Garnet were busy fighting in front of him, blocking his access to the ocean, and denying him a clear shot at either Gem.

Amethyst, now looking more like a pro wrestler, lept high above the two battlers on an arc that would bring her right to Max.

He fired his sonic drill twice, but the shots went wide below her.

The whip lashed out, breaking the sonic drill in two. Max dropped the useless weapon to the ground.

The Gem was about to land on top of him in a move Max thought he recognized from one of Ben's video games. It gave him enough of an edge that he was able to grab her legs mid jump and fling her into the rocky cliff that lined the beach.

Four Arms threw Garnet, but she rolled into the landing, and then planted Ben's alien form flat on it's back.

"That's it!" Ben shouted. Four Arms quickly got up and threw punch after punch at Garnet. It infuriated him that she seemed to easily block or dodge each set of punches he tried to land.

"You've got four arms," Garnet backed up slowly while they fought, "but you keep using them like you only have two. You need to mix it up."

"Mix it up? Oh, I'll mix it up." Ben tried to punch faster, but realized she was right. When he threw a punch, he threw both right arms at once. He had to focus to change up his methods of attack.

"Better," Garnet said. "Amethyst, the whistle!"

"Oh, right." Amethyst pulled out and blew on the warp whistle. Then she flicked out with her whip again, this time it tightly bound the old man who had delivered the ultimatum.

Garnet kicked out, knocking Ben to the ground. "I wish you hadn't of done that," she said.

"I thought you wanted me to blow the whistle!"

"Not that."

"GRANDPA!" The angry shout came from the red haired girl floating just behind the waves, but she was literally floating above the waves, her body energized with a blue energy. With a scream of rage, she released the energy towards the beach.

Amethyst released the whip and jumped out of the way.

Garnet took the full force of the blast, and disappeared in a massive explosion.

Max pulled out a pistol, and fired several shots at Amethyst. She dodged them, performing a series of jumps. After the third shot, Max lost track of her. It was like the Gem had vanished into the landscape.

"Grandpa, are you okay?" Gwen ran across the beach, throwing her arms around Max in a massive hug.

"I'm fine, Gwen, but there is still one of them somewhere around here. Maybe more, if we can find their base."

The Omnitrix flashed red, and suddenly Four Arms was gone, and the human child, Ben Tennyson stood in his place. "That's not fair, it timed out early."

"Stay alert, Ben," Max cautioned.

"STEVEN! STEVEN!" Greg Universe ran down to the beach. "What's going on? I heard explosions? Where are the Crystal Gems?"

"It's okay, Mr. Universe," Max said, "we spotted some aliens but we've taken care of them."

"What? Why? Not all aliens are bad! And where's Steven? And Connie? They've got to be around here somewhere." Greg looked around frantically.

"Sapphire!" a voice called out from behind some rocks.

"It's a Ruby!" Max raised his gun to shoot.

"No!" Greg jumped Max's gun arm.

"I'm here," a small blue gem ran out from behind a different set of rocks.

The two ran towards each other, narrowly avoiding another energy bolt from Gwen.

"Get them," Ben shouted, chasing after them.

Ruby and Sapphire met in the middle, they rolled on the ground, and Garnet stood back up.

"Thank you Greg, but you should go back to the van," Garnet activated her gauntlets. "It will be fine."

"But Steven… Okay… if you're sure." Greg let go of Max, and backed up the hill to the road. "Sorry about that."

Max fired at Garnet, who punched the projectiles out of the air.

Gwen positioned herself behind Garnet, and got ready to fire another magic bolt.

"You ready to go for another swim?" Amethyst said, holding one whip in each hand.

"Make your way to the house," Garnet said.

"Awww… but we can take 'em."

"I can cut them off," Ben said to his grandpa.

"Go, now."

Amethyst growled and pouted, but finally started backing up towards the house, Garnet followed her slow retreat, neither showing their backs to the advancing humans.

"What's going on?" Pearl

"Pearl, cover us!" Amethyst shouted.

Pearl saw the boy running along the surf towards the house, and Garnet and Amethyst running towards the house with an old man and young girl following them.

Pulling her spear from the pearl on her forehead, Pearl spun and leaped up, landing on the balcony rail, and firing a laser from the tip of her spear that raised a spiked glass wall between the Gems and their pursuers. Only Ben had an unobstructed path as he ran towards the house.

"I thought you said pearls were non-combatants," Gwen said.

Pearl performed a graceful jump and flip to block Ben's progress with her spear. "That's far enough."

"I don't think so," Ben's hand slammed down on the Omnitrix, and transformed into an alien.

"What an odd technology," Pearl and ran up the stairs after Garnet. "Why are we running?"

Ben ran up the steps after them. When he burst through the door into the house, he was greeted by a short chubby boy holding a shield. Behind the boy, the three Gems and a brown skinned girl were standing on a crystalline pad that resembled a Star Trek transporter pad.

"All right, it actually gave me Diamondhead," Ben's green crystalline form grew a sword, and attacked the Gem.

"Meet us on the pad," Garnet said as she and Amethyst ran past her up the steps to the house.

Pearl performed a back flip to put distance between her and Ben.

Ben flung a series of crystalline shards at her, which were blocked by Pearl's spinning spear. Pearl turn

"You dont know what your doing, kid. I have to stop them," Ben's Diamond Head form said.

"No, we are the Crystal Gems. Get our of our house," Steven said.

"I don't have time to play," Ben tried to knock Steven out of the way.

Steven deflected the blow, then pushed back with the shield, causing him to trip over backwards.

"Nice game system," Ben said, when his eye line settled on Steven's TV. "Do you have the new Sumo Slammers game?" Ben got to his feet.

"No, I really don't care for that game. I do have Lonely Blade: The Game 3."

"You dont like Sumo Slammers? Now I know your evil!"

"Whaaaat? No, evil is someone who attacks someone in their own home! And questions their tastes in video games," Steven said.

"Lets go, Steven," Connie called.

Steven looked over to the door, and saw Max and Gwen. That was his cue. He turned and ran for the pad, and jumped on it. As soon as he did, the pad glowed and they were all gone in a flash of light that shined upwords.

"Looks like early Space Bridge technology," Max observed.

"So lets follow them," Gwen said.

"I don't know if we can."

"Lets just get on the pad, and figure it out," Ben's Diamond Head said.

-O-

"Let's hurry, they'll be here soon," Garnet said.

"How can they operate the pad?" Pearl asked.

"Garnet preset it for them," Amethyst said.

"Why would you do that?" Pearl demanded.

"Because, we will be under constant threat from humans if these three cant figure it out on their own," Garnet said.

"So… should we hide or fight?" Connie asked.

"Follow me," Garnet said, leading the others quickly into the Kindergarden.


	3. Chapter 3

"That was definitely an old-style Space Bridge," Max stepped off the transport pad, but the sight before him sent him into a stunned silence.

"This is freaky, are we even still on Earth?" Gwen asked.

"Never mind that, we need to find them," Ben said, still in his Diamond Head alien form.

"You know this is a trap, right? We should be careful."

"So, let's spring it!" Ben ran down the hill, with Gwen hot on his heels.

Max took a few slow steps forward, looking around. They were still on Earth, he was sure of that. The same sun shone in the sky, and the air had the same smell… but the ground here was dead. Completely. It may never be fertile again, even enough to grow weeds. What could have done such a thing?

He followed Ben and Gwen slowly. He was sure that when they found the Gems, he would hear the sounds of fighting. He was walking through some form of canyon, with elongated holes at regular intervals along the cliff walls. Occasionally he would pass a bolder or rock jutting out of the ground.

The further into the canyon he went, the more he saw. More holes, more rocks, and ruined machinery. Alien machinery. And if the jewel at the end of them was any indication, they were likely Gem machines.

They looked to be drills, with legs, and they had all been destroyed. Some had simply been damaged or smashed, others had been completely destroyed. The damage did not appear to be recent; whatever it was that happened, it had been a very long time ago.

In a flash it occurred to him what these machines had been. He could see it in his minds eye: Plush fertile green slopes, the drills thudded down like rockets. They drilled down, injected a gem into the ground. As the gem grew into a Gem deep within the earth. The legs moved the drill to the next spot and repeated the process. Several other drills joined it, creating a preplanned garden to grow new Gem warriors. As the Gems grew, the ground compacted and died as the Gem absorbed all the nutrients and life from the ground around it. One by one, the Gems would exit the ground, fully grown and ready for battle. All that was left was this… rocky wasteland that surrounded him.

Max rested a hand on one of the drills, wondering what could have destroyed them without him ever knowing about it. The Plumber files on North America went back to colonial days… an action like this, surely he would have heard about. Could it have happened even further back than that? Then what were these Gems they were facing now?

-o-

Diamond Head Ben had stopped running, and was moving much more cautiously now. He and Gwen were both sure they were being watched.

"Hey!"

Ben turned with a start, throwing crystal daggers in the direction of the shout.

"Watch it! You nearly hit me," Amethyst was laying on her side in a suggestive pose on top of a piece of alien machinery.

"Are you going to surrender now?" Ben asked.

"No, why?"

"Cause I'm a well known hero!"

Amethyst cracked up laughing. "Hey, do you want to see my hole?"

"What? Wait—I don't know if I'm ready for—"

She playfully got up and walked along the ruined machine, then jumped onto the side of the cliff wall, pointing to a hole in the cliff face below her. "It's this one right here! Isn't it cool?"

"Wha?" Been was completely confused by what was happening, "Stop moving, and come with me, I don't want to have to get rough with you."

Laughing some more, Amethyst jumped across to another rock face and was soon out of sight.

"Aww, man…"

-o-

"I know you're here somewhere!" Gwen shouted, looking around at the hole filled cliff faces that were all around her. At the time, splitting up to cover more ground had sounded like such a good idea, but now she wasn't so sure. She felt too exposed here.

"Engaging combatant!" a voice said.

Gwen turned around to see the tall and slender Pearl standing behind her, holding a sword at the ready. Soon that Pearl was joined by two more.

"Engaging combatant!"

"Engaging combatant!"

Something was off about these pearls, Gwen thought as they approached her, and she backed up. These seemed much more… monochromatic than the Pearl that had attacked them at the beach house.

Gwen fired magical energy bolts at the first one. It vanished in a blur of static the moment it was hit.

"Attack."

"Attack."

The two remaining Pearls swung their swords at her, forcing Gwen to jump back. Her back was literally against a wall, and the two Pearls continued to advance.

In rapid succession, she fired two more magic bolts.

"I am defeated!"  
"I am defeated!"

These Pearls joined the first, vanishing in a blur of static.

"What is going on here?" Gwen shouted.

Gwen looked up, and to her surprise, spotted two Gems standing on top of the cliff staring at her. One of them was Pearl, and the other Garnet. As soon as they noticed Gwen glaring up at them, they turned and started running back along the cliff.

Gwen took of running back the way she came, trying to keep up with them.

She passed Ben.

"Come on, they're doubling back!"

"What?" Ben took off running after her, back towards the teleport pad.

They kept looking up, keeping the Gems in sight. There were three of them now.

Up ahead, they spotted Grandpa Max, he hadn't moved too far from where they had left him.

"Grandpa, they doubled back!" Ben shouted.

"What?" Max turned and started following at a quick jog.

They reached the teleport pad in time to see the three Gems and the two kids standing on the pad. The boy waved at them as they vanished in a blue teleport beam.

"Let's get after them!" Ben shouted.

"Ben, just a second," Max said, "how are you still Diamond Head? You should have timed out a long time ago."

"Since they could attack us at any time, I'm not looking a gift alien in the mouth… so let's go kick their butts before it does time out."

"Okay fine." Max joined Ben and Gwen on the teleport pad. As before, it activated on its own, sending the three of them to their next destination.


	4. Chapter 4

Ben 10 vs the Crystal Gems 4

"Where are we now?" Gwen asked.

"Wow, look at the size of those strawberries!" Ben said.

Max looked around, but as before, the Gems were nowhere to be found. "Well, kids, let's go have a look around. We'll find them." He was getting the feeling that there was a deeper reason behind the two destinations. Were the Gems trying to tell them something?

"Actually… I thought I should wait here," Ben said, "that way I can ambush them if they try to double back again."

"That's a good idea," Max said, "that way if you do time out, it should be a little safer here than out there confronting them."

Max and Gwen walked off, while Ben, still in his Diamond Head alien form sat down on the transport pad. "Yeah, but why do I feel like I'm being watched."

The transport pad was out of sight, but the view remained the same. "What sort of garden is this?" Gwen asked.

"It's not a garden." Max answered. "Look closer. This is a battlefield."

Gwen realized she had been distracted by the giant strawberries; in and among the plants were the remains of weapons. Hundreds, no, thousands of them; broken, buried or intact. The ground had been smoothed out by who knew how many years worth of weathering, but it was still uneven enough to show that massive violence had taken place here. "Spears… swords… battle axes… I don't even know what that one is…"

"These are all Gem weapons."

"But who were they fighting?"

"I don't know, but it must have been one hell of a battle."

"Look… Gem weapons are pointing in both directions…"

"It's not possible," Max said. "The Gems don't have that much individuality for something like… this to of happened."

"Maybe they changed?"

"Not likely. Rocks don't change, do they Gwen?"

"Well, if you put them in a tumbler, or with years of erosion."

Max knelt down beside a massive ax and dug out the dirt from around where the blade was imbedded in the ground. He had to dig down a couple of inches… meaning that it was a REALLY big ax, and that the battle had taken place a very, very long time ago. He found tiny fragments of a gemstone that had apparently been shattered by a strike from the ax. "Is this really possible?"

"What Grandpa Max?"

"New plan, Gwen. We need to talk to one of them."

-o-

"Come on, I'm getting tired of waiting. I know your there so come on out!" the green crystalline alien known as Ben shouted from the teleport pad for the third time.

Unobserved, Stevonnie moved closer to the transport pad.

"Geeze, he is so loud," Amethyst, in the shape of a purple snake said.

"Well, we aren't going to get to the pad first while he is standing guard on it," Pearl said. She was on all fours crawling along beside Stevonnie.

"Want me to take him?" the purple snake asked.

"Let us do it… I mean, let me do it," Stevonnie said.

"Okay, but be careful," Pearl said.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Yes, we've been training for this. We can take him… I mean I can take him," Stevonnie whispered. Pearl knew it was a private conversation brought about by nerves.

Stevonnie stood up, Rose's shield in one hand, and her sword in the other. Looking across, Ben's jaw dropped. He may be a green crystalline alien, but he was still acting like every other boy or girl Stevonnie met.

From Ben's point of view, he saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen stand up from the strawberry field. Girls were still gross of course, but maybe there was something to that whole dating thing after all? The girl had darker skin, long black hair, and a shapely figure with an exposed midrift that showed off the Jewel in her navel… or it marked her as a Gem. He would have to re-reconsider that thing about girls.

"Your not getting past me, so I'll accept your surrender now," Ben said.

"Just get away from the pad," Stevonnie said. "Don't force me to make you."

"Fat chance." Ben grew a sword from his arm.

Stevonnie saluted him with Rose's sword, then charged.

They clashed, metal sword against crystalline. They parried and attacked.

"You're not bad," Ben said.

"We're just buying time," Stevonnie said. "Is that hour glass thing your Gem?"

"What? It's my—" Ben didn't get the chance to finish. Suddenly he was struggling to fend off his attacker.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to poof and bubble you." Stevonnie ducked under Ben's next swing, and lashed out with a foot.

Off balance from his missed attack, the kick knocked Ben to the ground.

Stevonnie shattered Ben's crystalline blade with Rose's shield. Then, the shield was gone, and the blade was poised over Ben's chest.

"No, Stevonnie! He's human!"

It was the panic in Pearl's voice that stopped Stevonnie, before the meaning of the words filtered through.

There was a flash at Stevonnie's feet, and the green Diamond Head was suddenly replaced by a ten year old boy. A shocked Stevonnie fell apart, literally, Steven fell one direction, and Connie and the sword fell another.

Ben found that he was too tired to even think about moving.

Steven was joined by Pearl and the other Gems.

"Are all of you okay?" Pearl asked.

"I'm okay," Steven said, sounding a little dejected.

"What did we almost do?" Connie asked.

"Everything is going to be all right," Garnet said. "There is no almost, you didn't do it."

"So what do we do?" Amethyst asked.

"We stick to the plan." Garnet said.

"I still don't understand why we are doing all this," Pearl said.

"I told you. They need to figure it out for themselves," Garnet said.

"Yo, Steven, Connie," Amethyst said, "that was one cool fight. Good job."

The beginnings of a smile began to creep back to Steven and Connie's faces.

"Yes," Pearl agreed, "the two of you performed well."

They carefully moved Ben onto the grass, and Steven positioned him so that he was comfortable with a strawberry for a pillow. They then gathered onto the teleport pad, and transported to the final stop on their tour.


	5. Chapter 5

Ben 10 vs the Crystal Gems 5

"Ben! Ben! Are you okay? What happened?" Max kept repeating while kneeling next to his grandson Ben. He was holding a battle axe that Ben had never seen before, and next to him was Gwen, looking just as worried as Max was… that didn't seem right.

"They beat me, Grandpa… I think she was going to kill me… I've never been that scared before… but then she didn't cause I was human… I think," Ben whispered just loud enough for Max and Gwen to hear.

"Where are they now?" Max said.

"Gone. They used the pad," Ben said. "I could hear him, Grandpa…"

"Hear who?" Max asked.

"Diamond Head," Ben said. "The longer I was him, the louder he got. Said I didn't know what I was doing. I don't think he likes me."

"Okay… I think Ben has lost it," Gwen said.

"Maybe not," Max said. "Can you get up, Ben?"

"Don't know… super tired. I was Diamond Head too long… took a lot out of me."

"It should have timed out a long time ago," Max said, "I wonder if it thought you were in constant danger?"

"We need to get him to a hospital," Gwen said, real concern was in her voice.

"Your right, Gwen. Unfortunately, I don't think we have much control over where we go next." Max looked over at the teleport pad. He didn't want to, but they had no choice but to play this out to the end. He gripped the axe he had picked up from the ground. If they wanted a fight, he would give them one. "Ben, can you stand."

"Yeah, I think so, just don't expect much else."

"It's weird not hearing him boast all the time," Gwen said.

The three of them climbed up onto the teleport pad, and were gone in a beam of light.

-0-

"Come on Greg, lets go!"

Greg Universe was pacing in a circle on the beach, filled with worry for Steven and Connie, and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Gems. He looked up at the purple owl flying overhead, talking to him.

"Amethyst! What's going on? How's Steven? Has everything been settled with those other guys?"

"Nah, not yet. Garnet wants you to be there for this next bit."

"Oh, sure… uh, where are we going? Will it take me long to get there?"

"Not long." Amethyst grew and changed forms as she flew down, grabbing his shoulders in the talons of a giant pterodactyl and flying him up to the house. The two of them stood on the transport pad and they too vanished in a beam of light.

=o=

Max, Ben and Gwen appeared on another transport pad, unsure of where they were. Max held his axe at the ready, just in case it was a trap, but no one attacked.

The transport pad stood at one end of what could only be described as a beautiful garden, filled with rose bushes that lined the edges of a cobblestone area. At the center was a large statue of a large woman who was crying tears that formed a fountain, filling a pool below. The short wall around the pool was decorated with statues of the same woman in different poses. In the nearest one, she was looking down at a rose in her hand, which was overgrown with real roses.

No one was hiding this time. Directly ahead, like she was challenging them to do anything to the fountain, was the pearl. To her left was the tall one with the square hair; to her right was the purple one with the gem on her chest. Just in front of them were the two children. On the far left of the garden, Mr. Universe looked like he didn't really want to be there, but on the far right was a bored looking pink lion.

Max and Gwen each had to look again. It was definitely a pink lion. He gave them a short "Grawfp."

"Who are you?" Max asked.

"We are the Crystal Gems. Garnet."

"Amethyst."

"And Pearl."

"And Steven," the boy added.

"You're Greg's boy?" Max looked between Steven and Mr. Universe.

"Yeah. That's my dad."

"And what about you?" Max looked at the brown skinned girl, who held a huge broadsword at the ready.

The girl looked to Pearl, who gave her a prideful look, and then at Steven whose smile gave her the encouragement she needed. "I'm Connie, I am his Knight!"

Max then looked over at the Lion, half expecting it to speak. The lion just gave him a look that told him it was a stupid expectation. It then returned to being indifferent to the entire situation. He returned his gaze to Steven, and then up at the crying statue, and Greg Universe, then back to Steven.

"The boy's mother?" Max said, looking back up at the statue.

"She was Rose Quartz," Pearl said, "she loved this planet."

"She hated what the Gems were doing here," Garnet said. "She formed the Crystal Gems; starting the rebellion against Homeworld. She freed this planet from Pink Diamond."

"And we've been defending it ever since," Amethyst said.

"Why?" Max said… he knew it was a stupid question, but he felt it needed to be asked.

"For Love," Garnet said.

"She appreciated the beauty of this world, and didn't want to see it destroyed," Pearl said.

"I wasn't actually there at the beginning," Amethyst said.

"This world gave them something they never had before," Greg said, taking a step forward. "It gave them the power to choose. Here, they could challenge, or even change their own fates. They could choose who or what they wanted to become. A Pearl can become a fighter for the one that she loves. Two Gems can come together as one here, in a relationship that would be banned on their homeworld. A place where a Gem and a human can fall in love…"

"This planet gave us Love," Garnet said while approaching Max and the others, "And that changed everything."

Garnet deactivated her gauntlets and knelt in front of Ben, while Max set down the Axe he had been carrying.

"I'm sorry. We just assumed, that since you were Gems…"

"I use to assume that all humans were the same too, until Steven." She looked hard at Ben, then at Max, "May I?"

Max nodded, and Garnet picked Ben up, which was hardly difficult since the boy was having a hard time standing.

"What are you doing with him" Gwen demanded.

"Relax, it's fine," Connie said. "Nobody wants to hurt anyone."

With a surprising gentleness, Garnet set Ben down in the waters of the fountain. After a short second, Ben was flailing about like he was drowning, until he stood up, full of energy. "There, that's better," Garnet said.

"Great! Since we're all friends now, can we go get a pizza?" Steven said.

-o-

Back at the house, festivities soon developed after the ordering of pizzas. Max and Amethyst were in the kitchen.

"OH! I love the way it wriggles all the way down!" Amethyst said, "Can I get the recipe?

"Sure," Max said, "You know, I have a ton of recipes like this."

"I wanna try them all!" Amethyst said

Max grinned, "So wonderful to finely meet someone who appreciates my cooking."

In the seating area, Pearl tried to reassure Ben. "Don't feel too bad about being beaten. We've been training for thousands of years."

"Steven and Connie don't look that old," Ben said.

"Oh, no… they've only been training a couple of months," Pearl said.

"Just think what you could do if you trained instead of goofing off all the time," Gwen said, but Ben had already moved to sit next to Steven and was holding a game controller. "Ugh, boys. So, Pearl, how did you pull that spear out of nowhere."

"Oh, magic."

"I know about magic! Tell me all about it."

"Well, um, Okay…"

In Steven's loft Steven loaded up a video game. "This is Crossover Carts… It has a Sumo Slammer character in it."

Ben picked his character for player 1. "Get Ready for some Slamming Racing Action," the game character said.

"Who are you going to be?" Ben asked.

"That's easy," Steven answered, selecting his racer. "Am I destined to be the Loneliest Racer?" the selected racer said.

"This game has everybody!" Ben said.

Garnet, Connie and Greg sat eating their pizza slices, out away from the rest. "I hear you did good, Connie," Greg said.

"She did better than that," Garnet said.

Connie blushed. "Just glad I could help… but Stevonnie did most of the work."

"Stevonnie couldn't exist without you," Garnet said.

"I know you must've been scared," Greg said, "but I feel better knowing you're with my Steven."

"Thanks, Mr. Universe."

"Connie," Garnet said, "how does Steven make you feel?"

"He makes me feel like I'm everything. Like maybe I matter after all."

"Don't ever let anyone tell you that you don't matter," Garnet said.

"Exactly, you matter a lot and to Steven most of all," Greg agreed.

All the conversations were brought to a sudden stop by a screeching howl coming from outside. A massive monster, half clam, and half lobster was crawling its way out of the sea.

"Crystal Gems, Lets go!" Garnet shouted, and she, Pearl and Amethyst ran outside, pulling their weapons out of their Gems. Steven with his shield, and Connie with her sword followed behind.

Gwen's hands crackled with magical energy as she ran out after the others.

"Time to hero up" Ben said, and slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix, changing into an alien before running outside to confront the monster.

Max and Gred were left alone in the house.

"Looks like things are back to normal," Max said.

"Yep," Greg agreed. "Say, you want to listen to some more tunes?"

"Sure."

The End


End file.
